Technical assistance for the design and piloting of the Adaptive AI Readiness Scorecard in Latin America and the Caribbean

Description

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is seeking a specialized consulting institution to lead the methodological design, architectural framework, and regional piloting of the Adaptive AI Readiness Scorecard (AARS). This instrument is designed to help countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) evaluate their current artificial intelligence capabilities and navigate the structural socioeconomic transformations driven by AI adoption.

1. Conceptual architecture and dimensional design
- Methodological benchmarking: Conducting a comparative review of leading international digital indices (such as Oxford Insights, IMF, Tortoise Global AI, and OECD) to identify structural strengths and limitations applicable to the LAC region.

- Dual-dimension framework: Structuring the AARS architecture to distinctly measure two critical socioeconomic realities:

- AI Readiness: A country's current capacity to deploy AI, focusing on digital infrastructure, computing power, data assets, human capital, and organizational absorption.

- AI Preparedness: The structural capacity to adapt to AI-induced disruptions, focusing on labor market flexibility, social protection systems, regulatory agility, and institutional resilience.

- Metric harmonization: Mitigating data visibility biases that affect developing economies by blending international databases with national administrative data, firm-level surveys, and newly designed metrics for localized AI talent and compute access.

2. Implementation toolkit and country piloting
- Operational toolkit: Developing a robust, scalable replication package for IDB country teams that includes a standardized indicator codebook, primary data collection templates, scoring/normalization guides, and stakeholder engagement protocols.

- National pilot execution: Supporting the pilot implementation of the scorecard across four (4) selected LAC countries to build clear diagnostics of their local AI ecosystems.

- Validation and bottleneck isolation: Organizing in-country stakeholder validation workshops to map data gaps and isolate two to three primary constraints holding back AI adoption.

3. Strategic policy modules
- Customized technical notes: Developing one to two targeted policy modules for each pilot country, delivered as comprehensive technical papers of approximately 15–25 pages.

- Actionable roadmaps: Translating localized diagnostic findings into concrete, short- and medium-term regulatory options and investment priorities.

- Global alignment: Benchmarking proposed solutions against successful regional and international experiences to ensure long-term institutional resilience.

Note: Interested companies must review the requirements in the BEO Bidders Portal.